


World of Swords

by UnderRunner



Category: Room of Swords (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - World of Darkness (Games) Setting, Blood and Gore, Drug Abuse, F/M, Mages, Magic, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderRunner/pseuds/UnderRunner
Summary: Gyrus had to live day to day worrying about anomalies, what happens when that becomes the least of his worries.
Relationships: Gyrus Axelei & Kodya Karevic, Gyrus Axelei/Tori Grieve
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *Looks behind him and sees two incomplete flaming dumpsters* "huh, welp, third times a charm."
> 
> This is based in the world of darkness universe, however, I am not an expert so expect me to absolutely butcher some concepts and misunderstand the rest.

Gyrus hates Kodya sometimes, not because he hates Kodya himself no, they’re each other’s best friends after all. Gyrus just hates the crap Kodya can get him to do just by talking him into it, at first it was small stuff like telling Gyrus that he’d hidden his work somewhere on campus to have him search for it, Kodya would always get yelled at afterward but he always had a small smirk. 

Then things started to get stranger when he would start challenging Gyrus suddenly to do things like eating some disgusting creation that Kodya made in the kitchen, which usually ended with him hugging the porcelain throne for dear life while evacuating his stomach of the vile creation.

But now this took the cake, Kodya had urged him to go to the graduation party at some dude’s house for him because he couldn’t attend due to work, while seemingly innocuous things had gone badly fast, starting with his jacket being vomited on and ruined. That event set the night to be a terrible incident and he could now see why Kodya wanted him to go in his stead, to make things even worse someone began blaring music to the point it hurt his ears, things had escalated when he found several people in the basement taking pills from a pile.

But that was put all put to the back of his mind when while in the backyard when had wanted some fresh air he came across a couple with a man nibbling on the woman’s neck, at first Gyrus just thought this was something weird he had come across and was about apologize for intruding on this and leave, but then something happened, the woman dropped to the ground with blank eyes and pale skin. She was dead.

Everything became deathly quiet to Gyrus as he watched her dead body fall to the ground with a dull thud, he was brought back to his senses by his ragged breathing and watering eyes, what he failed to notice was that the man was still standing there. Until he wasn’t, sudden, blinding pain rushes through Gyrus’s torso with a sickening crunch as he is flung back, the man speaks. “Sorry you had to see that kid, you had a long life ahead of you from what I’m guessing, but I can’t risk the masquerade.”

As he finishes Gyrus can make out a gaping mouth and two very white, very sharp, and very long teeth.

* * *

Kodya had just come back from a very unsuccessful hunt, the vampire they were hunting had gotten away and had most likely made it back to an Elysium. As of such, he felt he’d earned himself a treat so he was going to surprise Gyrus by showing up to the party unannounced, picking him up, and picking up some food on the way back to the apartment.

Coming up on Main Street South he smells something peculiar, it’s familiar, blood. A chill runs through Kodya as the smell grows thicker and thicker in his nose, being a hunter did give him enhanced but even now the smell is growing stronger, Kodya charges into a sprint as the smell grows to be overpowering when he finally reaches a fenced backyard. As he peered over the fence what he saw next he felt would haunt him to his last breath.

The vampire they had been chasing earlier was lying atop Gyrus fangs buried deep into his neck, blood was pooling at his side as much of it escaped the vampire. Before he could think Kodya had already popped his wrist blade and punctured the vampire’s temple, killing it instantly. Kodya shoved the quickly burning corpse off Gyrus as looked at the damages.

“Oh no!” Gyrus was losing blood fast, it looked like the creature of the night wasn’t careful with how deep it went. Kodya held Gyrus careful to not aggravate the gaping wound, with Gyrus in his arms he ran to the backdoor and kicked in shouting. “Someone call 911! Someone’s been attacked.” As everyone heads into a panic with only some calling the authorities he points to a random person that isn’t in a total panic saying. “Get a first aid kit! I need to staunch the bleeding!”

Eventually, the ambulance arrived and they took Gyrus to the ER, that night on the news it was said there was the body of a female partygoer drained of all her blood and a burnt skeleton with a hole in the temple, most theorized the causes of death to be some sort of anomaly.

During all this speculation Kodya just sits next to Gyrus’s hospital bed wondering why this had to happen to him, not wanting to think about how he put his best friend into danger by trying to get him away from the hunt; ever since Kodya first became imbued and learned of the real dangers of the world all he wanted was to protect his friends, and now one of them has almost died because he lost track of the lasomabra. Unaware to him Gyrus was having his very own internal conflict, though in a much more literal manner.

* * *

The man had just bitten him, but rather than the immense pain he was expecting he got a strange sense of peace and relief like all his aches and pains just vanished, this felt wrong, Gyrus knew this was wrong, the pulling sensation terrified him, but he can’t stop unconsciousness from taking him.

When he awakes he finds himself in a strange place; a massive stone hallway with blazing torches and dancing shadows, he doesn’t know why but he feels compelled to go deeper into the halls.

It’s at this moment he realizes something, he’s moving but he’s not trying to, even as he tries to bring himself to a stop it feels as though his legs are refusing to respond as he continues further, Gyrus sighs and accepts his fate, he probably died and this is just the entrance to hell.

He doesn’t know how long he’s been walking, it could’ve been minutes, hours, days, he had no idea as his sense of time ebbed away from him. The further he went the more elaborate the walls got, starting with the occasional monster face to full murals, those unnerved him the most.

While he could enjoy art, that isn’t what these were, he felt uneasy just looking at them, just because he felt the only way he could describe it, was unholy. Images of demons dancing with man, human sacrifices, pits of hellfire filled with the souls of the damned. “Yeah okay, I’m definitely in hell.”

After walking for an unknown amount of time Gyrus finds himself standing under an arch filled with a black mist, despite his reservations about mysterious black mists his legs appeared to not have the same bias as they plunged him forward through the mist and to the other side. Upon arrival, he immediately collapses as control returns to his legs.

When he stands back up, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw, piles of mangled corpses, blast marks on the walls in the shape of people, limbs were strewn about the floor, and among them was a man in thick black robes, as he turned around Gyrus recognized him, as him!

“About your earlier statement about being in hell, you weren’t too far off, The Nephandi worship demons. And hello, I’m glad you’ve finally awakened, me.” It doesn’t take long for Gyrus to snap out of his shock as he yells at this… thing. “Who are you?! Where am I?! What is all this?!”

The man chuckles a bit before speaking and says. “Well as for who I am; I’m you, or you are me depending on how you view things. And as for where you are, you’re asleep, you lost an insane amount of blood, it’s only because you awakened that you survived. And as for what’s going, I’m going to be giving you a basic rundown on what it means, to be a mage”

Gyrus just stares in shock and disbelief before finally saying. “You said awakened in the context of me surviving whatever thing that was.” The other Gyrus(?) facepalms and says. “That was a vampire, or kindred as they prefer, and as for awakening that’s simple, you’re a mage now.”

Gyrus stares blankly for a moment before rubbing his chin and saying. “Oh okay, this is a fever dream, a very messed up fever dream.” The strange one groaned and says. “No this is not a fever dream this is very much real, and as for believing me, why don’t I show you what we can do.” as he finishes he holds out his hand motions for Gyrus to grab it, Gyrus does so hesitantly as at this point he’s certain this is some super weird dream, or he’s dead.

As soon as he grabs it the scene begins changing from a dark crypt-like cathedral to a verdant green pasture, when the transition finishes the other Gyrus let’s go and starts staring at his hand before snapping, with the echo comes a massive burst of flames and as quickly as it came it began condensing into one small red bead in Gyrus’s hand.

The other turns to him and says. “Keep that with you, I don’t think you’re ready to learn some of the more dangerous sides of magick, but with that, you can practice drawing heat from the bead and do whatever you want with it. Remember, magick is only limited by our understanding of it”

And with that, the other Gyrus fades leaving him alone in the pasture until he woke up in the middle of the night in a hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tori is a bounty hunter; nuff said
> 
> P.S Neither did I think bounty hunting was still a thing but it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Looks at list* I own none of this, World of Darkness belongs to White Wolf, (who is owned by Paradox) and Room of Swords is owned by Toonimated. (Owned by the laws of reality and nothing else.)

Tori was bored, this wasn’t an unusual feeling during the downtime of her job but it was unwelcome. Whenever Arthur didn’t get his money he’d always send Tori so this meant either no one was coming to him, or they were all paying on time, while this was good for the general public this wasn’t very good for Tori’s wallet.

At the moment she was watching the news, one person was killed by a vampire and another attacked by it, while the news didn’t say anything about a vampire anyone who knew about them could tell it was a vampire. This got her thinking on what may have happened to the person who survived, did they get embraced? If so is there anyone helping them or are they all alone in this new world of monsters?

Tori remembered some fledglings she had worked with on occasions, they were generally helpful, other than the toreador that just focused on her hair rather than gathering clues on where her target went, but they all had one thing in common; even if they showed it differently they were all afraid of this new world that they were forced into.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as her phone rang when she looked at her caller I.D a smile graced her face as she saw it was Arthur, maybe he had work for her. She answered her phone and was greeted by Arthur’s voice babbling incoherently, she let him go on for a bit before interrupting him saying. “You realize I have no idea what you’re saying right? You need to slow down.”

She heard a few deep breaths before he began again. “I got a job for you.” Today was going to be fun.

* * *

After a few hours of research on her new target, some dude named Derrick that was charged with manslaughter decided to skip on his bail, she looked him up and found he was a middle manager at CSV corp so it wasn’t like he was strapped for cash. For someone so high up at a tech company in the R&D department he didn’t appear that smart as mere moments before his bail was due he booked a hotel under his name.

Tori preferred jobs like this, it was easy and gave her a good amount of money but even after getting her intel on where he was there was still one check she needed to make. Her “friends” in the Camarilla would often want a chunk of her pay for the information given there was any. She dialed Gary’s number and waited for him to pick up. “So Red, who’s the perp this time.” She sighed, would he ever not call her that? “Derrick Philips, he  _ was _ a middle manager at CSV and-” He interrupts her. “And you want to know if he’s supernatural in any way I get it, let me check.” She heard typing on the other end.

After a brief pause, Gary said something. “Oh my goodness, Tori I suggest giving up right now ‘less you wanna die.” This shocked her as at this point she doubted he remembered her name. “Well, I can’t exactly say no, it’s my job after all. So what’s with him goldilocks?” ‘nailed it.’ She heard groaning on the other end of the line and the nosferatu spoke. “He’s a member of the technocratic union, they’re sorta like mages except they use hyper-tech, but just like mages they’re insanely dangerous.” He pauses. “They’re not exactly fans of the supernatural, in fact, in recent times they’ve come to killing mystics indiscriminately, I’m guessing they blame them for the anomalies. This manslaughter charge seems to have been changed from premeditated murder, my guess is the victim was a mystic and CSV pulled a few strings.”

Tori pinches the bridge of her nose. “So I’m going against a maniac with insanely powerful tech and a penchant for killing things like us, fantastic, anything else?” Gary was quick to respond. “Yeah, don’t forget the cash if you live!” With that, he hung up on her. “Dammit, I was hoping to come up with another name.” She was off to get Derrick.

* * *

The drive over to the hotel was a short one, when she got out of her car she saw that it was slightly run-down he thought that no one would think he would stay; sadly for Derrick, Tori could smell his anxiety through the walls, it smelled like really tart cherries. As she went inside the receptionist spoke hoping for another customer.

“Hello, there ma’am! Is there any way I can help you?” Tori decides to get straight to the point. “Yeah, can you tell me where Derrick Philips’s room is? He skipped on his bail and I’m here to pick him up.” Tori doesn’t need to ask, she can just follow the scent but she needed to ask as a formality. After a moment of shock, the receptionist nodded and just handed her a room key with the number 204. Tori smiled, gave her a ‘thanks’, and proceeded up the stairs to room 204.

She found the room immediately after going up the stairs, she knocked on the door, waited seven seconds, and spoke. “Listen derrick, we can skip the trouble and you can come peacefully.” She pauses for a moment. “Or I could open the door, beat the crap out of you, and  _ then _ bring you in.” She waits for one more moment before opening the door and-

Immediately she needs to dodge a beam of light as Derrick is standing in the doorway, wearing some strange gauntlet, ready to strike, she reaches for her gun and feels a faint resistance before grabbing it, aiming, and firing. Despite aiming directly for the chest it only grazed his side as winced and grabbed his side, as she readies another shot the floor suddenly leaves her feet as she falls to the ceiling.

“What the hell?!” In her moment of confusion, Derrick aims his gauntlet at her, and a beam of white energy bursts out, colliding with her abdomen. A blinding pain shoots through Tori’s body as she is tossed back like a ragdoll; in the corner of her eye, she sees his readying another attack, as he’s about to attack Tori rolls to the side narrowly dodging another beam getting just enough time to stand.

By the time Tori is standing, he’s readied another shot but at this point, she’s not pulling any punches, and by the time he’s about to fire Tori’s arm bursts into flames and lobs a ball of fire towards the technocrat, he’s too slow and catches the thing full in the chest. As he crashed to the ground horribly burnt and writhing in pain before passing out Tori fell back to earth’s normal gravity with a hard thump.

When she gets up she realizes that the fire alarms are on and she probably shouldn’t stay; she heaves the man over her shoulder, goes down the fire escape, and puts him in her car.

* * *

The drive to the police station wasn’t that long, thankfully when she got there no one asked any questions about the unconscious man in the back of her car, she did come often after all.

After dropping Derrick off at the police station she heads off to Arthur so she can get paid, as she heads into his office she spots the large man and waves him down. “Ah, Tori! I just got the call, said there was the use of ‘excessive force’, sounded like nothing but bullcrap to me, but hey; no charges so it’s all good, maybe not so warm next time?” 

She smiled, Arthur was the one person she felt comfortable sharing her secret with, it was hard for the first year and a half, but when she got a job with him and became friends it was much easier. “So, not to sound rude but I’m really wanting to go home and get some rest; how much are you paying for this?” Arthur just handed her an envelope, as she opened it her smile widened, twenty thousand.

After hanging out for a bit Arthur said. “Oh, I almost forgot, I’m going to be taking a trip to Chicago for a bit, so I’ll be closing the office. Okay see you, goodbye.” in the middle of telling her that she was going to have to find some other form of income in the coming days he was already out the door, sometimes she just wanted to punch him in the nose.

As she left the office and got in her car and began driving home, she wondered with a melancholic smile, how was her queen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay just for some things I didn’t explain
> 
> The year is 2051 and summer is just beginning
> 
> The locale is in Stanford, California, yes I’m aware it doesn’t make much sense, but it suited my needs.
> 
> CSV is taking the role of one of many of the Technocratic Union’s companies, it sells things like smart-devices and home appliances, CSV has bought out most of its competitors like Apple, Samsung, etc. However, it also sells products such as paradox dampeners and anomaly alarm sets.
> 
> The Technocratic Union has started hunting down and murdering mages, while before it was only killed on sight for the Nephandi, now any mage that warps reality without the use of high technologies is under threat of neutralization.
> 
> Anomalies are still a thing and still very dangerous, while less destructive than Gyrus’s canon time they can still take out large buildings at mid-range.
> 
> Known Splats
> 
> Mage: the Ascension - Gyrus
> 
> Hunter: the Reckoning - Kodya
> 
> Changeling: the Lost - Tori
> 
> Yes I know Changeling the Lost is Chronicles of Darkness and not the original World of Darkness, but I felt it fit her better


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gyrus wakes up, deals with his vision and magic being real.
> 
> Kodya is happy, confused, and most of all, an amazing friend.
> 
> Feather shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally planning on finishing the third chapter, then releasing the second and third as a bundle, Guess that still kinda happened.
> 
> As before World of Darkness is owned by White Wolf (Who is owned by Paradox) and Room of Swords is owned by Toonimated

As Gyrus awakes he is immediately aware of two things, the first is that he couldn't move and is currently hooked to a multitude of machines, and the second being that Kodya was asleep, resting his head on Gyrus’s left shoulder! After the brief moment of shock and embarrassment, Gyrus gets an evil smile on his face as he realizes something, as he glances at Kodya and says. “Oh, I am so blackmailing you with this.” This is until he remembers he left his phone in his jacket.

Gyrus glares at the sleeping Kodya. “You win this round.”

As Gyrus tries to wiggle around and wake up Kodya, he feels a small hard sphere in his left hand, the realization washes over him as he weakly tries lifting his hand to his face grasping the small object. It was a bead, the very same bead from his dream, radiating the same feeling of heat. Rather than screaming his head off in shock from seeing that the dream was real and that he was capable of… that, he felt at peace, like things just click.

After all the movement and not so subtle nudges from Gyrus, Kodya groggily began to awake, until he saw it was Gyrus finally moving, then he was filled by energy that couldn’t be replicated by anything short of a fusion plant, he immediately wrapped Gyrus in a bone-crushing hug that would make bears tremble. “Oh my goodness! I’m so glad you’re okay Gyrus, you have no idea how worried I was!” As Gyrus gasps for air, he gets out. “I won’t be if you keep hugging me like this.”

As Kodya lets go of Gyrus he puts on a concerned smile and asks. “You okay man? You lost an insane amount of blood. Who knows, maybe I’ll finally give a break on messing with you.” While spoken in a joking tone Kodya still meant every bit of it

Gyrus was about to ask what happened until he got the inexplicable urge to wait. “Can we talk about this some other time, I’m just kinda tired right now.” Gyrus rubs his sore back and feels something warm and hard, suddenly remembering that he had some magical bead with fire powers based on the explosion the other him made he abruptly stopped, choosing instead to keep a soft grip on it.

Kodya notices but chooses not to bring it up until the aforementioned “Some other time”, he makes sure to call a nurse so they can know he’s awake and get him discharged as soon as possible when the nurse took Gyrus out for a check-up Kodya got out his phone and went to the place he needed for advice. Hunter-Net.org

* * *

**Hunted became hunter is online**

Kodya decided to go to his troupe’s personal chat.

**Hunted became hunter: Guys I need help.**

**Lightning very, very frightening: Is this because that lasombra you lost? If it is, I’m sorry but I can’t help with that.**

**Hunted became hunter: Not the lasombra, well kinda, it attacked my best friend, I’m not sure how long I can keep this a secret now.**

**I think I’m a clone: Why? Monster attacks happen all the time and unnatural are still everywhere.**

**Hunted became hunter: He’s crazy smart and has lots of imagination, if he doesn’t figure it out I’d be very surprised.**

**I think I’m a clone: Okay, but why can’t you just let him figure it out? That has a lesser chance of him thinking you’re insane.**

**Hunted became hunter: Because if he realizes that I’ve been keeping this from him and had no plans to tell him, that might seriously damage the friendship.**

**Lightning very, very frightening: Hunter, you haven’t told him already, have you?**

**Hunted became hunter: Not a chance, I’ve been trying to keep him out of this for as long as possible, I think he’s only gotten suspicious recently.**

**Thicker than water: And you think it’s a good idea to tell him you fight vampires, werewolves, and the occasional mummy?**

**Hunted became hunter: To be fair he’s technically already seen a vampire, werewolves and mummies are just a logical conclusion.**

**I think I’m a clone: Logical… Are you okay Hunter? Did you inhale some vampire fumes when you killed the lasombra?**

**Hunted became hunter: Very funny, Lightning, what are your thoughts?**

**Lightening very, very frightening: I think it sounds stupid and reckless, but if you think he won’t think you’re an insane psycho, then go for it, I told my best friend about a month ago and we’ve gotten closer since she knew I was protecting her.**

**I think I’m a clone: Wait, wait, wait. You told someone!?**

**Lightening very, very frightening:... Crap**

**Lightening very, very frightening is offline**

**Thicker than water: Well if she did then I guess it’s fine for you.**

**I think I’m a clone: Do not encourage sharing your identity without telling everyone else!**

**Hunted became hunter is offline**

* * *

As Kodya could feel the screaming coming from his phone the door opened and Gyrus walked through in his normal clothes, no longer clutching his hand, a shocked Kodya looked at the clock and notices it’s been half an hour. “Huh, time flies. Anyway, what’s the order?” Gyrus smiles before explaining. “I got discharged, apparently I not only have functional blood levels but also not a single scrape’s worth of scar tissue, I guess someone’s watching over me.” With that, he lightly punched Kodya’s shoulder and said. “Let’s get back to the apartment, while I’m healthy, hospital food may change that.”

As they exited the hospital Gyrus sighed as he saw Kodya’s pickup truck, he didn’t dislike it, it was comfortable and got decent mileage, but an odd odor always permeated the air inside it. Meanwhile, in Kodya’s mind, he had an immense feeling of dread but he knew if Gyrus found out he’d been hiding this before the attack it might damage the friendship severely, he just needed to find the right way to say it. As they both entered and Kodya started the engine. There was no sound other than that of the truck, as he pulled out of the parking lot and got on the highway nothing was said for the first few minutes, Kodya decided to speak first.

“So… What do you want to do when we get home? I know you said food but after that?” Gyrus wanted to say something, but that nagging feeling in the back of his mind stopped him from acting. “I think I’ll head straight to bed, I may be healthy but I’m tired as can be.” Kodya nodded, both of them wanted to talk, but both of them were worried about how the other would react, Kodya worried that Gyrus would think he was a lunatic, or worse, believe him and be hurt by the secrecy. Gyrus had the same worries of being seen as crazy, but his worries were added by what he saw in his dream, was he really going to become that? Something capable of killing hordes of thinking, feeling creatures, and feel satisfaction from it?

He could Partially understand not being overly upset by killing in self-defense, even if the subject still made him feel uneasy, but satisfaction in death and brutality? The thought that he could become like that terrified him. He rifled through his pockets and felt the bead the other Gyrus gave him, he wasn’t sure why he kept it, maybe morbid curiosity the thought of having crazy powerful magic excited him, he didn’t know.

The rest of the drive was silent as neither of them felt comfortable when they arrived at their apartment they both had to suppress a sigh of relief; even with their collective funds, they could only afford a two-bedroom one-bathroom flat. Gyrus was the first to enter and as soon as he stepped foot in their home he headed straight for the pantry, he tried to eat healthily but living near campus was expensive enough, he tried to remind himself of this as he stared at row after row of cup noodles.

After locking the door Kodya calls out. “You sure you don’t want take-out? I think that’s healthier than this garbage.” Gyrus responds as fast as he can be bothered. “You know just as well as that we don’t have enough money for that; and don’t even think of using the credit card! That’s for emergencies only, and only after we exhaust the emergency funds.”

Gyrus grabbed a cup, boiled some water, then ate his watery noodles, after he finished he told Kodya ‘good night’ despite it being eight P.M when he reaches his room instead of lying down and going to sleep, he sits on his bed looks forward and pulls out the bead. He doesn’t know how it will work, or even what he’ll do with it, but he still wants to try.

The first thing he tries wasn’t something he thought would work, he tried mental commands ‘fire’ or ‘firebolt’ and even ‘fireball!’, he even tried whispering them, but all that accomplished was making him embarrassed. The next thing he tried drawing symbols in the air, he tried writing Q and Kt for heat and translational kinetic energy for some fire spell, he felt the bead grow warmer, he was making so much progress! He felt so joyous, so powerful! That last part made him feel weird, he knew it was from the other him.

He didn’t feel like practicing any more magic, even if he did make a breakthrough he didn’t like the way it made him think, in the depths of his mind he heard a quiet voice, but to him, it couldn’t be louder. “It didn’t _make_ you think anything, your avatar gives nothing but nudges in the right direction.”

Gyrus wanted to scream, to do anything that could make the voice stop, to make it go away, to have it make less sense. That night Gyrus had a restless slumber tainted by the images of war, slaughter, and him.

* * *

As they sat there in the basement of their chantry, swirling a bottle of beer in one hand with a bottle of pills in the other. Feather had seen so many things in their life, the fall of Rome was an interesting period of time before the Order of Reason rose to power and changed the consensus things just got harder, but they never had to go alone, not as long as those two remained.

As they swallowed two pills and chased it with the beer, this would have killed normal people, but Feather is far from normal, visible even beyond their bangs, their open eyes started emitting pale blue specks of light, a small smirk graced their features. “So, you’ve woken up from your nap?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I somehow managed to release the third chapter of a fic, how fun.
> 
> For those that don't know mage, Feather is a Cult of Ecstacy (Or Sahajiya), traditionalist mage, they use drugs for magic, and now so does Feather.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gyrus practices magic while others plot

As Gyrus woke up, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief, these nightmares were so vivid and terrible that sleep was no longer a reprieve from his stresses. While Gyrus’s vision clears, he sits up from the bed and gets ready for his day. Today was a Sunday and he’d finished his projects for the week. 

Kodya was out for his job today so Gyrus would have the apartment to himself for the majority of the day, with this he was going to dedicate his day to one thing, practicing magic. He'd stopped after last night because of the other him affecting him, but today he’d just power through everything.

When he finished his daily routine, he started getting supplies for magic. He only brought a metal pan to put the bead on, he had no idea of what would help in the process.

As he got everything together, he brought it all to the kitchen, made sure the door was locked, and put it all on the stove, he put the metal pan on the stove and got started; he got started by using the already proved method of writing in the air. He puts the bead in the center of the pan, focuses, and draws the scientific symbol of heat; he waits for a bit for something to happen, when nothing does, he tries to draw it slower and more precisely.

Only, nothing happened. And as nothing continued happening, he started writing the same thing over and over, trying to get something to happen as his movements became more frantic as he tried to provoke some sort of reaction right as he’s about to give up he gets an urge. “Ugh, what do you want this time? If you haven’t noticed you can’t play me.”

The feeling he got was more of a gut feeling than a phrase or thought, the way it felt was as if it were reaching from the depths of his soul; almost instinctively he reached out, but he stopped, this could be a trick to try and destroy or possess him. But no matter what he thought, he couldn’t help but feel an allure to this reaching feeling.

Gyrus figures that if he steels himself beforehand, he might be able to resist any attempts on his body or mind; he doesn’t know how he’s doing it, but he reaches out and grabs this feeling, whether it be with some imaginary force or his physical hands he couldn’t tell, sure his fists were clenched at this point but he doesn’t know how he would grab a feeling with them. 

As soon as he gets a firm grip, he feels overwhelming energy, but he doesn’t let go, instead choosing to hold strong as this force rolls over him. The energy itself doesn’t invoke the same primal fear the other him did, but it didn’t feel peaceful either, rather it felt indifferent even as it held immense power.

At the moment of connection Gyrus’s right hand began glowing a dim white light, when he saw this his eyes widened with amazement, he’d made flames before but that was with a source, this was coming straight from him with no outside forces besides the urge, but until he could define what it was, he wasn’t going to count it as anything but a gut feeling.

While keeping hold of this strange energy he heads to Kodya’s room, Kodya owned a crossbow for some reason and kept a target in his room. Gyrus walked in and waited a moment to make sure no one was walking in the front door, he saw the target and got ready, he thought that if he grabbed onto the energy instinctively, he might be able to apply it similarly.

As nothing came to him, he thought for a moment of whether or not this was another failure, he shook his head, he just needed to be more proactive. He began thinking of ways to apply this energy, the first thing he thought of was just focusing the energy into a single point, he began shifting the energy itself, trying to get a feel for it to compress it.

As it becomes smaller and smaller, Gyrus begins feeling energy more physically as he feels a weight forming in his hand, he looks at his hand and sees that rather than a ball of energy or something that could feasibly hold weight, it looks more like a dense mist made out of light. He stares for a while, mesmerized by light folding over itself and dispersing.

Now that he has it compressed, he starts thinking about how to apply this energy, he comes up with a few ideas however each one he comes up with he decides wouldn’t work. Until he realizes he already has something, he begins focusing solely on the target, even letting his hold on the energy fade, what happened next, he would later say he should’ve predicted that.

The energy leaps from his hands and obliterates the target, leaving behind nothing but ash. Gyrus just gapes at the sight wondering what else he was capable of, he sighs, he could tell that if he continued, he’d start having “those” thoughts.

Gyrus decides that now is a great time to stop and that he’s earned himself some mandu.

* * *

Gary hated his clients most of the time, Tori was nice but it would be even better if she took up his offers of literature so she didn’t call him every time she had a question, at least she wasn’t actively hostile to him, unlike most non-kindred.

The Sabbat was at least straight-forward with what they wanted and they gave him some respect, he just wished they’d stop expecting him to give them free info because “we’re working towards the same thing.”

The Anarchs left him alone for the most part, aside from the rare times they got too deep in their garbage and needed him to bail them out, it was just annoying how whenever they contacted him they needed him to do something stupid because they messed up.

But the absolute worst was the Camarilla, they wanted free info like the Sabbat, they would want him to fix their problems for them, but they also brought an insufferable air of superiority; the Camarilla always acted like they were the best for all kindred but they would always force Nosferatus like himself into the sewers and still expect them to shower the Ivory Tower with praise for their “benevolence”.

Gary’s phone rang, as he saw the caller ID he groaned as loud as he could, it was the Camarilla prince of L.A; the Camarilla had been driven out more times than he cared but they always forced themselves into the city, claiming it was their duty to govern the kindred. No matter how much he didn’t want to pick up he also didn’t want to be declared a traitor and have a blood hunt called for him.

Gary picked up the phone, answered, and held it to his deformed ear. “Hello, my prince.” The words felt like poison on his tongue, but the nicer he played, the less crap he’d get for his business. “Pleasure to speak with you Gary, tell me have you seen the news?”

Gary wanted to say. “Of course I have you remedial bastard.” But that would likely get him killed. “No, I haven’t, what happened that requires my assistance?” Gary just wanted to punch the prince in the jaw enough that he wouldn’t be able to drink from anything but a bag. “One of the new members breached the masquerade and received his final death, unfortunately, someone witnessed him, I need to know where he is so I can send some of the Banu Haqim.”

Gary couldn’t care less what the kine saw, as long as it didn’t affect his business, but wanting to send them after kine seemed to be a waste of resources and time, though he didn’t care as long as he still got paid. “What’s the name of the kine in question?” He didn’t need to ask but if he made the prince feel smart so he got paid better it was worth it. “The name is Gyrus Axelei, we would just hunt for him in the general area, but he lives with a fairly powerful hunter.”

Gary grunted a confirmation before putting the prince on hold, he tried to play nice but having to act that way through an entire conversation was infuriating; Gary spent twenty minutes scouring the internet, government surveillance, and kindred databases.

After he finished, he took the prince off hold and spoke. “So the kid lives in an apartment complex in Stanford, he seems to turn in after seven P.M. He immigrated from South Korea in twenty thirty-seven, more recently after that incident the Sabbat have taken interest in him, my guess as to why is that he took out a Camarilla Lasombra.”

The other end was silent for a moment before the prince spoke. “How much do you want for this?” Gary knew this wasn’t a real question, if he named his actual price then the prince would use that amount as an excuse to say Gary was indebted to him. “Just pay what you think is fair sir.”

The prince abruptly hangs up on Gary, he puts his phone in his pocket, it’s moments like this that make him miss the ability to feel anything from smoking.

* * *

**Three days later**

* * *

The night of his first day of practice he got a message from Kodya telling him that he wouldn’t be back for a few days, apparently there was an anomaly in the area of his job so he had to get screened for any abnormalities caused by it; Gyrus wasn’t sure how much he trusted this message, but he wanted to practice more so he wasn’t complaining.

On the morning of the second day he went out and bought more targets to replace the one he destroyed and have something to practice on, he made sure to text Kodya now and then to make sure he was okay.

Gyrus had been practicing holding the energy and expelling it in less time, his current best was firing after holding for three seconds, many a wood target have fallen before his mighty blasts of magic, and many more will.

At the moment he was preparing dinner when his phone buzzed, he looked and saw Kodya had texted him.

**Kodya: Yo, you should go out and do something tonight.**

Gyrus was immediately suspicious as the last time Kodya said something along these lines he was almost killed by a vampire, he’d better have a better reason than “I’m not feeling this party.” this time.

**Gyrus: Why? If you haven’t noticed we’re kind of broke right now.**

**Kodya: Because of the anomaly all the employees who got stuck in San Fran are getting bonuses**

Gyrus decides it’s time to stop beating around the bush and just be straight forward

**Gyrus: What if something like last time happens?**

**Kodya: Don’t worry about that, I put together a list of low crime areas you could go to**

**Gyrus: Okay, I’ll take a look.**

Gyrus figures he can’t stay home all the time, but if something happens, he and Kodya were going to have a long conversation about whether or not one or both of them were cursed with the worst luck possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, this didn't read like a disjointed mess, this took much longer to write than I expected.


End file.
